adventures; annotated.

How to Travel After University:

The context might have been a little different, but I think Hunter S. Thompson had the right idea in mind when he said “BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE.”

Here is how to travel after university:

Enroll in some sort of post-secondary institution. You probably don’t want to, and will probably hate a large majority of it, but it will be worth it. It will be worth it, only because it will make the [what happens next] seem that much more rewarding.

Find a friend. Choose wisely; maybe a friend from school. No flakes. (This step is optional. Consider skipping this step).

Find yourself. You never know when group travels become solo travels. Enjoy being alone sometimes, but embrace the opportunity to cultivate new connections.

Get a job/ win the lottery/ or pan-handle. Gather the funds by whatever (legal) means possible, and then resort back to what Thompson first told you to do: Buy the ticket. Open ended, or finite, it doesn’t matter. Lock it in. (hint: don’t give yourself any opportunities to back out).

Plan. Plan. Plan some more.

Now scrap those plans. Find out how you’re getting to where you’re going, and when you’re going to leave. Remember those ‘mad-libs’ books from when you were a kid? Just fill in the blanks. There is no right or wrong way.

Pack. Re-pack. Re-pack again for good measure. A well-packed bag (unlike this post) is well siphoned; edited. No wasted space, no unnecessary additions, and no typos. Wait, what?

Alas, you have nothing holding you back. [Most likely] no permanent residence, no children, no spouse – maybe some school debt, but you’re only [22] years old. Barriers are an illusion. Time is worth a helluva lot more than money, so god-damn it, you’re rich.

Only one thing left to do. Take the ride (ya filthy animal).

Now, I’d be remiss to say that I am some sort of professional traveler, or even that I have tons of experience. Sure, I’ve been here-and-there since childhood, mostly within Canada or back to Trinidad, but until now never have I taken part in such a vividly uncharted experience. But if there is one thing I pride myself on and can feel more comfortable calling myself, is being a professional ‘life-liver’. In fact, I’ve been living life for about 22 years now (who woulda’ thunk it) – finessing every damn day, too.

I’m not here to go all Drake on y’all, with some “everybody dies, but not everybody lives” crap. Rather, I’d like to think that just about everybody has the opportunity in one way or another to go out every day and experience life. Everybody should consider themselves pro’s at living, by this point I would hope – I’m just so lucky that my medium literally allows me to do it, and then tell you about it.

Juxtaposed to the title, these how-to’s are not instructions. Some things, hell, maybe none of the things that will work for me will work for you. But regardless, I’ll be here anyway to share the details of a few of my adventures with you all – you can decide the purpose for yourself. If you don’t consider yourself a professional life-liver yet… I guess it’s just about time to go do a little more living, huh?

There are how-to’s, by me, Hospey, yet I’m the one who is hoping to learn a little bit. (Or maybe I’m just blabbing for click bait).

Currently, I’m sitting in front of a white window in West Vancouver looking out into the blissful abyss of green flora, 30 hours out from my first big adventure with my best friend. This time 2 or 3 days from now we’ll be hugging Koala’s (or something like that, I imagine) in Australia. No return ticket.

So if you see a confused Canadian kid wandering the streets, teach me how to do something. Pls?